March/April 1998
News from Local Congregations
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News from Local Congregations |
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This column includes information sent to us from a variety of groups. Servants’ News does not necessarily agree with the teachings or practices of these groups. Please ask about them before attending their functions. |
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This section is for short articles or letters about activities of local congregations. We will mention local congregations as they form or as we learn of significant news. Groups listed in this section may have some doctrines or policies which we cannot justify from the scriptures, but we believe most of them are a reasonable place for fellowship with the brethren. We believe the holy spirit will guide you in your fellowship decisions if you will study and ask.
You are invited to share a special Sabbath weekend, June 5-7, in Kansas City. Friday night, an informal get-together will be held at one of the members’ homes. Sabbath services will be at 2 PM. The subject will be Teaching the Word to Others and the speaker will be Norman Edwards. Questions and comments will be welcomed. A potluck meal will follow (about 4PM). On Sunday, a picnic and outdoor study will be held, weather permitting.
For details, contact Rex Jamerson, 913-262-6009 or Rick Frazee, 816-461-3252.
The Sabbath Campers Fellowship is planning two campouts this summer:
June 5-7: at the Holiday Rest Campground in Millersville, Tennessee, just north of Nashville.The campground is about 12 miles north of Nashville, just a mile or so off of I-65. Jim Rector, and George and Pam Dewey will be joining us for this first campout. We expect that they will have words of encouragement and exhortation for all of us. There will probably be a Bible Study on Friday evening. If you have ever been to one of these campouts then you know the informal way that things seem to happen. The weekend will feature music, Bible Study and much Christian Fellowship.
For directions, details, information, reservations and such, please call Sabbath Campers coordinator Richard Fox at 1-800-228-2473.
August 21-23: at the Gateway Park Campground in Hillsdale, Michigan, near the Indiana border in Michigan. This is the same facility the SCF used for two campouts last summer. The campground has a nice meeting hall, a swimming beach, playground, and new this year: a swimming pool. The format will be the same as the June campout. Ray Wooten and Norman Edwards are planning to join us at this campout.
Camping prices per site for each night at the August campout are: Full Hookup: $18. Primitive: $17. "Pull thru": $20. One-day visitor’s pass: $2.
You may make reservations for the August campout at this time by contacting: Norm Wilcox, Gateway Park Campground manager, at 517-437-7005, 4111 W Hallet, Hillsdale, MI 49242. Be sure to mention you are with the Sabbath Campers Fellowship.
For all who would like to be there for the fellowship, but prefer motel beds to tents and sleeping bags, there are numerous motels within a few minutes drive of each of these camping facilities. For further information, contact Richard Fox 1-800-228-2473.
The purpose of the conference is to bring together knowledgeable lecturers who can present the subject of health and healing from two viewpoints: the church’s and healthy lifestyle advocate’s viewpoint. Perspectives will include evangelical, Pentecostal, non-denominational, and natural health practitioners.
Another purpose is to find the primary agency of responsibility. Is it the individual, the church, the medical community, or the federal or local government? What are the responsibilities of each agency? Questions will be taken after each session.
Moderator: Kenneth Bozeman, elder from the Church of God.
Lecturers: James Van Eps, Active Living Fellowship; Dr. Timothy J. Ourada, Chiropractic and Natural Health Practitioner; Thomas Hauri, Tucson’s Prayer House; John Purvins, God’s Church in Appleton, Green Bay area.
When: Saturday, May 16, 1998, 9:00 am to 4:15 pm.
Where: Little Chute Library and Community Center, 625 Grand Avenue, Little Chute, Wisconsin 54140.
Cost: All sessions are free of charge and open to the public. No collections will be taken.
Notes: Reservations preferred, due to space; lunch will be provided.
Conference Coordinator: Gary Lesperance (920) 739-1911 or 1992; Fax (920) 739-9325.
Sponsor: Church Counsel of Wisconsin.
The Proclaiming the Sabbath More Fully conference will be held May 29-31, 1998, at the Lake Region Conference Campground (Camp Wagner) in Cassopolis, Michigan. For information on attending the conference, call Sidney Davis, 847-688-5647 ext. 150 (work) or 847-785-0315 (home) or check web-site: www.arkansaw.com [NB: URL no longer valid]. Cabins, RV hook-ups and food are available at very reasonable rates.
Servants’ News readers may not be as interested in attending this conference as they are in knowing why it is being held. It is sponsored by a "grass-roots" movement within the Seventh Day Adventist Church that are concerned about a lack of diligence at the high levels in their own organization. It is also interesting to note that this group has Holy Day dates posted on their web site (mainstream SDAs do not keep the Holy Days).
Most SDA members may have forgotten, but their organization was challenged before on this core belief. In the 1980’s an SDA minister, Robert Brinsmead, became enamored with Martin Luther’s writings and teamed up with an evangelical Lutheran scholar by the name of Paxton and conducted seminars near SDA hospitals and colleges that attracted many SDA members. Eventually they stopped keeping the Sabbath altogether and abandoned the SDA church.
The arguments that Brinsmead raised were some of the same ones that the Worldwide Church of God faced only a few years ago. John Merritt, former Board member of Ambassador College and founder of Friends of the Sabbath, was invited to speak on an otherwise exclusively-SDA slate. He will be able to show first-hand how these changes can be brought into an organization from the inside as well as the outside.
Sponsored by Christian Educational Ministries (CEM):
Lexington, Kentucky, June 19-20, 1998. For more information, call James or Jeannette Hicks at 606-266-8641
Chicago, Illinois, July 24-25, 1998. For more information, call Mike or Maureen Linacre at 773-288-5650
Place: Wagoner, Oklahoma
Date: July 12-17, 1998
Sponsor: CEM
Summer camp is going to be held in cooperation with various independent Churches of God and will be open to all teens who have reached their 13th birthday by the time camp ends and who have not yet reached their 19th birthday. It is open to all teens, regardless of their church affiliation and will foster a spirit of cooperation and love for all.
We have volunteers from around the country and we hope to add some new activities this year. We will also have most of the activities from prior years, including the always-popular canoe trip down the Illinois River, as well as volleyball, basketball, softball, swimming, group initiatives, and more.
Christian Educational Ministries, PO Box 560, Whitehouse, Texas 75791, 903-509-2999 (fax: 903-509-1139), e-mail: cem@ballistic.com.
May 29-31, 1998 at Paradise Lake, Bushkill, Pa. Cost: $76 per person from Friday thru Sunday including all meals $59 per person Saturday and Sunday including all meals. $20 per person for Saturday meals with no stay over. Children under 10 get 25% off. Speakers include: Ray Wooten: UCG Alabama; Jim Rector: Cornerstone Ministries; Don Esposito: CoG New Jersey. For reservations please call Don Esposito at 610-863-3323. Please try to make your reservations as soon as possible.
— Don Esposito
Church of God New Jersey, PO Box 424, Iselin NJ 08830
Looking for an idea? Here’s one: Carolyn Landgrebe is spreading the Gospel by running ads in her local shopping guide. In the Classified Ad section of Community Times of Plymouth-Knox, Indiana, a free booklet about the Kingdom of God is advertised. Readers may call or write for the booklet. In this way, spreading the Word is affordable.
Anyone interested in hearing Jim Rector’s Sabbath Service may do so on the second Sabbath in each month (if the Eternal be willing). The time is 4PM Eastern Time (3PM Central, 2PM Mountain and 1PM Pacific Time). The procedure is simply to dial 1-800-886-1509. When the operator requests your PIN number, push 2663. The operator then will ask the name of your conference. Tell her it is the Monica Lockwood conference. You can join us anytime and hang up anytime. This is a great improvement on our old method that required you to have 3-way calling and remain hooked up for the entire service.
This service is intended for individuals as well as home fellowships. A good quality speaker phone can easily make the phone transmission loud enough for a room full of people to hear it. (Speaker phones that do not have an AC-power plug are rarely ever loud enough for a larger group.) It is hoped that this dial-in service will not encourage people to stay home, but to meet with others and discuss what they have learned. It can be an ideal supplement to home fellowships that do not have their own live speakers available every Sabbath.
Sponsoring the CEM program "Born to Win" has produced more fruit than expected by our small congregation here in Charleston, WV. The Church of God—Southern WV and a few co-sponsors started airing the program on January 2nd, 1998, on a 50,000 watt station in Huntington, WV. Having received a response to the program by the second airing, our group’s expectations of produced fruit was shortly to be dwarfed by the reality of tangible fruit, and no longer mere expectations.
Exactly one month later, on February 2, 1998, Larry Watkins of CEM contacted our Charleston congregation with news that a group of about 50 Sabbath keepers had just contacted CEM and wanted to make contact with the sponsoring congregation. This group of Sabbath keepers have been within 30 minutes’ drive of our meeting hall, even through our times in the Worldwide Church of God and the United Church of God, but we never knew it. They were aware of the larger COG’s and even received some of their literature, but never became members of any group and chose to remain independent.
On February 2nd, calls were exchanged between both groups’ spokespersons, and visits to services by representatives of both groups occurred within the next two weeks. While both groups have differing worship services in place, each accept this difference and are enjoying the fellowship, worship and free flowing exchange of ideas. As one of our members here said, "I think we can learn something from these people." The first thing we’ve learned "about" these people is that by the fruits they have displayed, they are truly of the Body of Christ and our brethren.
— George Hampton
[When I worked for the Global Church of God, other groups of independent Sabbath keepers were pleasantly surprised to discover the GCG’s broadcast or literature. Unfortunately, nearly all of these relationships came to an end when the group found out that the only way the GCG could have an on-going relationship was to put them under their hierarchy and to expect them to tithe to GCG headquarters. One would hope that the hierarchies would learn that if the Eternal can bring people to that level of truth without a hierarchy, than He can continue to guide them on to the Kingdom. —NSE]
The Orange County Fellowship of God, an independent voluntary association in the Church of God tradition, is pleased and excited to make the following media announcements.
In conjunction with Christian Educational Ministries and Ronald Dart, we will be sponsoring the following weekly broadcasts of the cutting-edge Born to Win! radio program on the following channels:
WWCR—World Wide Christian Radio, Nashville. This is a total Global- Covering Shortwave broadcaster at 12.160 MHz. 11:30 AM Central Standard Time , Saturday Mornings.
KBRT—740 AM, a 10,000 watt station broadcasting from Catalina Island in Southern California. This signal reaches from Santa Barbara California to nearly 100 miles south of the Mexican Border and Inland through the Los Angeles, Orange and San Diego County areas out to Arizona. Program time is 9:30 AM, Sunday Mornings.
KPRO—1570 AM. Final negotiations are in progress for a weekly program on either Saturdays 10:30 AM or Sundays 2:30 PM. This is a 5000 watt broadcaster that serves the "inland Empire". Areas covered will include San Bernardino, Riverside, Victorville, Moreno Valley, Corona, Temecula and Palm Springs.
The Orange County Fellowship of God Outreach Group is a volunteer group of highly-motivated Christian individuals dedicated to individual Christian growth and to preaching the Gospel to all the world.
— Bill Lussenheide
Public Relations
Orange County Fellowship of God
[For information on hearing or sponsoring Born to Win in your area, contact Christian Educational Ministries (CEM) at 903-509-2999 or cem@ballistic.com —NSE]
For 50 years now, Spring Vale Academy in Owosso, Michigan, has been committed to providing a solid, well-rounded education in a Christian environment. Spring Vale is affiliated with the Church of God Seventh Day, Denver, Colorado. The entire staff realizes their God-given responsibility to care for the students, and recognize their influential role in shaping the character of each. Their earnest desire is to have a significant impact—academically, soc ially and, most importantly, spiritually—on each and every young person who spends time on the Spring Vale campus.
The Bible is fundamentally important to all that transpires at Spring Vale. It provides the best light for life in this world and the only hope for life in the eternal world to come. The teachings of the Bible, especially the gospel message of salvation through Jesus Christ, are held in the highest regard.
Spring Vale is committed to providing the best possible education for each student. A low student/staff ratio allows for individualized attention that can help maximize the talents of each student and prepare them for college. A wide variety of extra-curricular activities and programs allow for social and personal development. Formal and informal, scheduled and unscheduled times of Bible study, worship and praise provide a climate for spiritual growth. With many staff members living on campus, a family atmosphere and learning environment continue after school hours.
The staff of Spring Vale Academy is committed to doing its utmost to equip students for life in the last decade of the twentieth century—and for life eternal.
Spring Vale Academy accepts students who have satisfactorily completed the eighth grade or one or more years of high school, who have a high regard for Christian moral values, and who are willing to commit themselves to the school’s academic, social and spiritual programs and comply with the school’s standards and policies.
A Spring Vale Academy bulletin for 1998-1999 and application form is available upon request. Applications for Fall 1998 need to be submitted before July 15, 1998.
Spring Vale Academy, 4150 S. M-52, Owosso, MI 48867, Phone 517-725-2391, Fax 517 729-6408.
I had an interesting Sabbath visit to St. Louis, March 28. The Church of God Sabbatarian hosted an appearance by Ronald Dart, preceded by a musical concert by the Crystal River Trio, a gospel music group from Oklahoma. The group consists of Charles Pope, an elder in the Fellowship Church of God, Midwest City, OK, and Roy and Debbie Nikkel, who are Baptists and longtime friends of the Popes. Their selections, some original compositions, were often lively in the southern gospel tradition but were all Christ-centered.
Mr. Dart’s message touched somewhat on the recent tragedy in Jonesboro, Arkansas, and how Hosea, chapter four, applies to our society today. There were numerous visitors from central Illinois, Iowa, and the Kansas City area.
Among those present were Bill and Scarlett Stough, frequent contributors to The Journal. The previous evening, Bill interviewed Mr. Dart for an upcoming article. All in all, it was a pleasant, warm spring Sabbath day.
— Larry Evans
You are invited to participate in the Lost Tribes listserver. This listserver (e-mail discussion group) has been set up for the discussion of the Lost Ten Tribes of Israel and the reunion of the two houses of Israel from a serious Jewish perspective in light of the research and writings of John Hulley, James Tabor, David Horowitz, Yair Davidy and others.
To subscribe, send an e-mail to majordomo@nazarene.net with the word "subscribe losttribes" on the first line (not the subject). Hope to see you there.
— James Trimm